Trail Droppings 2040- 7 Pioneers Hit Hard in Draft

[indiansfan]

Pioneers Hit Hard in Draft

The Calgary Pioneers were one of the first teams off the board in this season’s expansion draft. Every team had to lose 3 players, but Calgary lost their 3 before some teams even lost their first. Rodrigo Gallegos, Sean Gardner and Brandon Acevedo were the players lost by the team.

Gallegos was the 5th player taken in the draft. Portland selected him and then soon after traded him to Edmonton in a multiplayer deal. Gallegos is the type of player that Portland could have built around, but it appears their strategy is to trade quality for quantity to build their system. Gallegos was blocked in Calgary, but the screwballer was a favorite of management and figured into the team’s future plans. The 21 year old will now get a shot to make Edmonton’s rotation and pitch for one of Calgary’s main rivals.

“Son of a Bitch,” was what GM Kevin Dickson said when the pick was announced. “We figured we would probably lose him, but hoped he would slip through. But for him to end up in Edmonton, geez did that come back to bite us in the ass. You know how hard it is to find a kid that can throw a screwball?”

Reports are that Calgary considered making Portland an offer to get Gallegos back, but it never materialized. Last season the Pioneers made the Lynch deal with the Jackrabbits, but at that point they thought that Edmonton was going into rebuild mode. Now they find themselves together in the new Frontier Division after they met in the playoffs last year. Gallegos will get the chance to prove that Calgary made a mistake leaving him unprotected.

Gardner was taken in the 10th round by Charlotte. He was disappointing in his 7 starts last season, but the team had not given up on him. They were going to see if he could make the conversion to the bullpen this Spring. His loss was not a huge one for the team.

Acevedo’s selection sent cheers through the Calgary office. While a versatile player, Acevedo was given little chance of making it to Calgary. He was seen more as a minor league lifer that added depth to the system. The team was very glad that none of it’s catchers or relief pitchers were drafted which would have created holes for the team to fill.